Thursday, May 15, 2014

The revolutionary wash system converts waterbourne paint washings into clear water and solid waste, allowing for easier and safer disposal.

For a number of years we have owned and used the Environmental Wash System ES 450 to safely dispose of waterbased waste.

How the Envirowash system works.

The units are made up of two parts - the sink and a separate filtration tank.

The units work by separating paint washings into clear water and solid paint. The spray gun is used to wash rollers, brushes, paint trays, pots and anything else that has been used in the painting process. Once the unit is full, treatment chemicals are used to separate the solid matter and water from the paint washings.

After 1-6 hours, clear water remains in the top of the tank and paint sludge is left at the bottom. Clear water can be recycled into other trade related applications, or released onto flat grassy areas and gardens.

Remaining paint sludge is filtered, ready for removal and drying. Once residue is dry, it is ready to be disposed of as non-hazardous solid waste.

The Paint Shaver Pro will strip away multiple layers of paint at a time and collect it into a vacuum system for easy disposal.

We have been using this machine for a couple of years and have found it very useful, especially for lead removal. It will strip away multiple layers of paint at a time and collect it into a vacuum system for easy disposal.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Having read the article ’Slashed painting rates trigger householder complaints’ I was prompted to share some observations of a ‘Jaffa’ working in Christchurch over the past year.

I decided to set up a team of staff in Christchurch for a few reasons. Mostly, I wanted to be part of the rebuild and to contribute to something that I was anticipating would be more fruitful and interesting than the normal Auckland rush, rush, rush. Despite living in Auckland, the earthquake had been felt closely, with family being affected by the February quake with one members house being in the red zone. I had therefore some first-hand experience of the impact the quake had on people’s lives.

Since May 2011, I have had anything between 5 to 14 staff working on a number of different projects as sub-contractors to other Christchurch based painters.

The opportunity of the rebuild has opened the flood gates for all and sundry to migrate south and set themselves up as a painter to take advantage of the rates and opportunities. Not unexpectedly this has resulted in unscrupulous people turning up, looking to make money out of the situation. I have seen all the brightly coloured, sign written new vans, talked to some of these operators about their new business and some of my staff have been poached. They are there for the money and nothing else. This isn’t a new dynamic as I have seen operators like this come and go in Auckland. They don’t contribute to the overall acceptance of our association being perceived as a ‘professional association’, so what can we do to address this situation? Not sure I have the answer, but no one will be able to stop the flow of people choosing to set up as operators that don’t have the experience of the trade that is required by Master Painters.

In response to the statement ‘the pricing edict from Fletchers and EQC would further open the door to industry cowboys with increasing numbers of untrained plasterers and painters moving in Christchurch to fill the skilled labour shortage’. The influx of people setting up as operators has happened. This will continue to happen once the work fully comes on stream and there will be people from all over the world descending on Christchurch looking to have their piece of the pie.

This will happen regardless of the position of Fletchers. I’m not surprised by the stand they have taken, in an attempt to try and rein in the increasing expenditure they face for the rebuild.

If we look at what has happened in Auckland following the boom of business over the past number of years, we have seen things get tighter and tighter with fierce competition on price. I tend to work predominately in one market, new commercial with one particular main contractor that I have a solid business relationship with. I offer a particular service to them and they pay accordingly for this. I know many other painters are similar and up until recently the market was big enough to accommodate us all. Our skill level is defined by how quickly we can complete a project under increasingly tighter time frames. Our skills are specialised, with the work being repetitive as we do the same type of work from one project to the next.

I face increasing pressure from other painters including Master Painters that deliberately lower their rates to win work in our market. Over the last couple of years, one member in particular has driven the rates down without any consideration for others. By driving down price, the business employs un-skilled staff and cowboys to undertake work.

I would imagine members from other areas can probably recount similar stories. This I think is part and parcel of our world and I don’t think there is anything we can do to change this type of behaviour. It will be about how we can operate smarter to make money from the work we do. In these types of markets, we need to be careful about how we approach business investment. If people have chosen to base their business model on what the original prices were in Christchurch, thinking that the situation would stay the same, then I suspect they are now looking at those new vans and thinking it wasn’t such a good idea.

Many of us Jaffas will remember what that was like in Auckland many years ago, before the influx of migrant labour and the boom of hundreds of major projects around the Auckland region. We had to adapt to compete and this is what Canterbury is now facing. How does it tackle the massive rebuild with its existing labour force is not a question we need to ask because we know it cannot. So the question is how do we work together as Master Painters to create a united front to have rates paid that reflect the cost of the work in the environment where it is being undertaken, and make a profit. I think comments like ‘ We do not see the situation changing anytime soon with the main parties are treating legitimate and professional contractors in the manner described above” doesn’t consider the way in which Main Contractors operate.

Having set up in Christchurch, I wanted to join the Canterbury Association, so that I could contribute and participate like I have done in Auckland. I was surprised to learn that there was an expectation by the National Office, that I would need to pay the full fees in Canterbury (inclusive of the fees that go to the National Office). This means to operate in two centres, there is an expectation that I contribute 2 lots of fees to the National Office. I had expected to contribute to the Canterbury Association, but thought that this wouldn’t include the contribution to the National Office. So to be a member of both locations, I now have two separate numbers.

If the Association is expecting to have ‘legitimate and professional contractors’ from other areas working in Christchurch, then it appears that this isn’t being encouraged by expecting members to pay twice to the National Office to do this. As an Association wanting to promote professionalism in the future work in Christchurch, we probably need to start with the practice of our own Association before we point the blame at others.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

First, thank you to all of those fellow members who have sent me emails and txts of concern and well-wishing. Because of time restraints I have not replied so some hoping this letter will suffice.

You will remember I wrote about the last quake we had here in Christchurch…..or more precise 40 kms west of the city and I stated it was not quite as bad as the media made out, well this last one was 50 times that and hugely worse and what the media is portraying is quite accurate. The epicenter was basically under the east Cashmere hills, and for those that know Christchurch virtually under the tunnel road. I was inside a steel clad building pricing a 50,000 litre tank when it hit. You know how the camera judders when they try and film a make believe quake, well to one’s eyes it is exactly like that, everything seems in slow motion, the noise is unbelievably deafening. One tank started to roll towards me all 3 tons of it , if it was not for a fork lift I might have got my wish and been 6ft.6!

Once outside the place was a shambles people on the roads from the factories, small fires everywhere and the road churned up with liquefaction spurting or pouring out of fissures on the roads, footpaths, sections ,house and factory insides. The concrete simply splits and this sand spews out!

Having all my civil defense gear aboard (Waimakariri Controller), finding out the Waimak was not affected much, I went to the city CBD and specifically ended up at the Canterbury Television building which was afire and collapsed with a few people clawing frantically at the detritus. Across the road was the new multistory Inland Revenue Building locked up and the staff out of it. I set up a Civil Defense post in the middle of the intersection with the help of police. A chap in orange overalls and hard hat with C.D on his pocket came over. I asked him if he was the only CD person here he replied “we are Inland Revenue rescue team….the rest are in the park” (150m down the road) I sent him down to get them but he returned to say they had all gone home! I needed gear, we had at least 150 people trapped in a building on fire! He said they had plenty in the IRD building. I authorized Police under the CD Act to break into the bullet proof glass doors which they did with much glee! Every floor had stretchers, bum bags, blankets…you name it!

No cell phone or any other communication was available for awhile but as the services arrived things rapidly got better. Forming lines we simply just dug into the building with our hands gradually forming a pile of mangled office and personal equipment behind us. Yes we got three out alive and several dead. By 9-30p.m I was exhausted and wet as the rain was a steady downpour. Why would a modern building collapse like it did? Five floors left no higher than 5 meters? One Japanese girl we extracted told me there were 50 people in her class alone on the third floor! An acquaintance of mine was on the ground floor and she is still there at the time of writing. Nobody below the third floor and most of the third floor will in all likely hood be deceased.

I had a quick walk around the CBD checking our New Regent Street site project (the buildings were fine we had just finished earthquake strengthening work and they are a solid mix of brick and reo concrete), the remains of the cathedral was awful, deathly quiet with a great pile of rubble in which at least 22 people still remained.

Of huge concern is the historical buildings…I say too bad, Enough money has been spent trying to strengthen them not to mention the money that is given to owners for maintenance…..then the parapets come down and kill someone in a shake or the whole thing collapses. The earth has barely stopped moving in the city, we had shake after shake during the period of time I was on duty. Accompanied by great crashes and thumps as more buildings and scaffold collapsed. Those old buildings must be mortally wounded by now. Walking around and seeing the dead people in cars and buses caused by these building means we must make our cities safer. Christchurch now has a chance of being New Zealand’s most modern city. North California was decimated by a quake and rebuilt itself into one of the best cities in the U.S. We can do the same and I think Cantabrians have got the right stuff……well those of us that are left that is!

So now the city is without water and power in many areas. I have donated a truck and fuel adorned with a big Canterbury Master Painters sign for the Rangiora Catholic Church group who are trucking water into the suburbs. Our CD have set up a welfare centre in Rangiora for city folk who need shelter and we Civil defense controllers are on 10 hour rosters.

About 60% of my staff are away but are O.K most will be back on Monday. We have found out that our insurance does not cover lost wages…something we thought it did, you need to check with Rothbury if you have insurance through them. Well that’s it from: CHRISTCHURCH THE CITY THAT SHAKES RATTLES AND ROLLS!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Paint recycling in NZ is due to hit a significant milestone in 2011, with the Resene PaintWise paint and packaging recovery programme expecting to get back its one millionth pack this year. Already over 100,000 litres of paint has been donated and over 100,00 kilograms of steel packaging has been recycled.